The Call (4 page)

“Well - what if I just stay here?” Katja asked with attitude though she intended no such thing.

“Then I'll tie you up and toss you across the saddle.

She didn't say it threateningly, or angrily or jokingly. Just with the same calm security she said everything else.

“And would you enjoy it?” Katja fired back with an insolent grin.

“Perhaps. What about you?”

Katja laughed a bit, took a few steps back and did a running jump into the saddle.

She wiggled her ass a bit to fit and again hugged Serdra's waist.

“What are we waiting for? Go.”

--------------------

As the second day passed Katja started to wonder if she would be better off stuffing rocks down her pants to cushion her rear. They occasionally dismounted to rest the horse but it was a cold comfort knowing that the reprieve wouldn't last long.

The wind started blowing in from the north again the previous evening, bringing the cold mountain air with it. Serdra had minded the horse and examined his hooves, then they wolfed down supplies and lay up against one another under two blankets to keep warm.

The wind wasn't letting up. Katja had dug a wool cap out of the backpack but was still almost glad when Serdra mounted the horse. Her rock-hard back was at least warm.

“Where are we heading anyway?” Katja asked.

They hadn't talked much. During the evening she had just wanted to fall asleep as fast as possible and on the journey she'd been wary of distracting Serdra while she was steering the horse through the more treacherous areas.

“To Flat Top. Do you know of it?”

Katja had seen it once, from a distance, and been told to never go there as long as she lived.

“Ah, yes. But I was told it was haunted by a sorcerer. I was told the fell is dangerous.”

“Not any more. But it's good that people are still scared of it. We will have privacy.”

Katja didn't doubt it. People were terrified of the fell, there was no habitation near it and in any case the way there was difficult.

They had started to see Flat Top in the early twilight. Serdra considered going through the boundaries of some fields to spare the horse a bit, but decided against it when Katja mentioned having cousins in the area.

Their environment had become ever more overgrown throughout the day, and they camped in some dense scrubs. The night was a good deal more comfortable with cover from the wind, but Katja couldn't help but wonder what staying up on the fell would be like.

Serdra needed to tend the horse a bit more this time and Katja had always needed quiet to sleep. So as the older woman examined the horseshoes in great detail and picked little annoyances out of them Katja took out a long, thin strip of leather she'd brought from home and fished the pebble from her pocket.

It was almond shaped and reached from the tip of her little finger to the second  knuckle. She had never been considered much of a craftsman but she did have nimble fingers and it was a small matter to tie the strip tightly around the pebble until it was barely visible. Katja then put on her new necklace, tied it securely and put it under her shirt.

Serdra finished her work on the hooves, gave the horse grain from a bag and then lay down.

“We'll hopefully reach the top of Flat Top tomorrow,” she said. “There are only three routes fit for a horse, and if there is some problem with the one we are heading for we'll have to circle around.”

“And then will you teach me.”

“Yes. Then I will teach you.”

Katja lay quiet and still after that and rubbed the necklace. She had trouble stilling her mind. She suddenly wanted to ask Serdra how they would survive on top of an uninhabited fell, how long they would stay there and so many other things. But it sounded like the woman had fallen asleep and in any case she didn't seem to give out any information unless she wanted to.

Finally her body slackened and the mind gradually followed. She faded into the dreamworld and thought of combat, monsters and travel, and thought she heard the beating of wings.

In the morning they ate the last eggs and two grain cakes each, leaving them with four. Serdra had some dried fish but it would keep better than the bread so they left it for now.

Katja said she wanted to bathe in the nearby stream and was somewhat expecting a refusal, but Serdra approved. She said cleanliness was important even though they couldn't get sick, as various creatures had a sharp nose for the smell of man.

“That is, as long as you don't use those damned scented soaps,” she added. “One should smell
less
, not more.”

Katja smiled.

“We don't have such things around here.”

“Then I'll borrow some of yours.”

The cold wind lessened her enjoyment of the bath, but once she warmed up again on the journey she could savour feeling clean.

The scrub became older, denser and taller later in the day and stretched up the western slopes of Flat Top. It took several turnarounds and some cleverness to get the  horse through the growth and Katja found the going agonizingly slow.

Am I actually excited about going up Flat Top?
she suddenly thought, as she caught herself cursing the uneven landscape.
A place feared by all? Should I be smug or shocked?

“So just,” she hesitated, “what is the truth about the fell?” she asked as the slopes were finally filling her field of vision.

“There
was
a dark sorcerer there,” Serdra answered. “He created monsters and caused deaths. The stories have exaggerated his deeds a bit. He was quite mortal and is now quite dead.”

“So he actually stayed dead?” Katja asked and again thought of the stories of corpses rising after sundown to bite the living and drain their blood.

“Yes, we made sure of it.”

--------------------

They reached the base of the fell in the middle of the afternoon and the climb began. The way up was steep and difficult and hard to see unless one was standing on it. Katja would probably only have found it herself by total chance.

Serdra was usually in the front and led the horse, except for brief portions which were easier for him. Katja wasn't exactly in top shape after two days as a passenger in the saddle, but she put up with the pains in her muscles and cuts. She wanted to learn, she wanted
answers
, and she didn't want to wait a moment longer than she needed to.

She didn't like her own stiff walk and audible breathlessness, given how easy this seemed to be for Serdra, but didn't know how to interpret the look Serdra gave her now and then. Was it disapproval over the exhaustion or approval that she nonetheless fought on in spite of it?

Whichever it was Katja started pushing herself harder and her walk improved a bit. She also managed to not sigh with relief when they finally walked the final metres up to the edge. Then, at last, she saw the top.

“Wait, this isn't flat!” she shouted.

“No, but it seems to be, from the south and west. I suppose that's how the name came about.”

Katja beheld a plain with quite a lot of low bushes and scrubs which after about two kilometres began to rise again, in just such a way that it couldn't be seen from the lowlands.

“Come,” Serdra said and mounted nimbly. “We're almost there.”

The excitement enabled Katja to ignore the pain of the final ride and her heart almost skipped a beat when before them lay a large depression in the ground and a cabin at the bottom of it.

The cabin was long and narrow, made from turf, rocks and probably the only large trees ever to grow here, as Katja could see no others. It clearly wasn't new and sported no artistic carvings as she was used to seeing on homes. It looked like a hunting cabin, and even had small attached stables.

“Do you live here?” Katja asked as she helped unload luggage from the horse.

“No, I haven't been to Baldur's Coast in a long time. We, and our allies, have used this as a hiding place since the passing of the previous owner. We started stories that he'd slept under the open sky, so no one would suspect anything.”

Serdra assigned Katja to carry the luggage inside and air out while she herself minded the horse.

The thick door creaked loudly as Katja opened it wide and the inner door did the same. Stale air hit her like a wall, but it was at least good to know there were no big holes in the walls or roof. She hurriedly opened the shutters on either side of the door, and with more air and light she began to evaluate the place.

It was very plain. There was a fireplace in the middle of the floor, and now that Katja looked up she saw a hatch in the roof above it. The chests of different sizes stood in a row opposite the door. Cooking tools and clay jars sat on a small shelf, as well the tools needed to maintain a place like this, along with a logging axe. To Katja's left stood a frame for stretching hides on, and a few goat hides lay on the rough wooden floor. Some spears and an unstrung bow stood up against the western wall, and a bed and two buckets completed the picture.

Serdra entered with the saddle and placed it next to the bed.

“Well, it's good to see the place has been maintained.”

“By who?” Katja asked, while Serdra approached the chests. She opened the smallest one and took out some blankets, a candlestick and a bundle of candles.

“Allies, as I said. They occasionally make trips to maintain places such as this.  I'll introduce you to them when the opportunity arrives.”

“Are they... like us?”

“No. But they are very useful sometimes.”

Serdra opened the largest pack and brought out one of several wrapped bundles.  She unwound a thick layer of linen until she held a sword. She drew it out of the sheath to reveal a spotless metal blade.

Serdra held it in both hands, tested the balance and struck at the air a few times.

“Aren't you used to seeing shorter swords?”

“Yes. Fuzzy Hjalmar has one of these, but he fought Kossus for Amerstan twenty years ago.”

“Did you ever get him to show you how to use it?”

“A bit.” Katja smiled at the memory. “It took a lot of nagging and help with chores.”

“Good,” Serdra said and sheathed the blade. “Swords like this one suit our purposes well. The handle is long enough to grasp with both hands but it's also light enough for one hand in an emergency.”

She put the sword on the bed and opened another bundle. It contained two wooden practice swords of the same size as the metal one.

“We'll need to settle in,” the woman said. “We'll need firewood, fresh grass for the bed, water from the lake, fresh meat and sweeping wouldn't be a bad idea. But first I want to see what you can do.”

She threw Katja one of the wooden swords and walked outside with the other one in her hand.

Katja hesitated a moment before following with a familiar, and yet slightly different, tingling in her stomach. She'd known it from her childhood, when it became clear that one of the boys wouldn't put up with being taunted by a girl and a fight was upcoming.

Except then she'd usually been almost certain of winning.

Serdra stood a few steps from the doorway and Katja positioned herself against her. There were about ten steps between them.

“Aren't you going to complain about having just scaled a fell, being dead tired and unfit to fight?” Serdra asked.

“No,” Katja said and couldn't help but smile at her own expense. She figured she knew what she was in for.

She expected an attack but Serdra let the wooden sword hang by her side and stared at her intently. She was silent for a bit and Katja got the feeling she was about to say something important. She held back the comments which popped up in her mind and stared back.

“There is one thing you
must
learn,” Serdra said with gravity. “Probably the most important lesson I can impart on you and one you must keep in mind throughout your life, no matter how old and powerful you might become. Something which applies to us
all
.”

“And what's that?”

“We aren't invincible.”

Silence reigned for a moment and Serdra kept staring with the same intensity.

“Well, no, I didn't assume so,” Katja said.

“Not now, but it's an easy trap to slip into. We're quick, we're strong, we have superhuman awareness and we can accumulate more combat experience than any mortal. We are
born
to fight.
But
,” Serdra held her index finger up for emphasis, “we only have two hands, only two eyes and our organs are no tougher than those of other people. We can recover from a severed hamstring or a shattered knee, but in the meantime we are as disabled as anyone.”

“We are more powerful than mortals but they can still destroy us, and not just through overwhelming numbers. If you don't fine-tune your awareness an assassin can sneak up on you in your sleep, as I mentioned before. We are perfectly capable of making mistakes and in a battle a single wrong step or bungled parry can prove fatal. Even an elder can be felled by an ordinary warrior, if they are careless and unlucky. It's
unlikely
, but possible.”